


light me up and burn me down

by lognrithm



Category: Rockman | Mega Man Classic
Genre: Comfort/Angst, M/M, king is mentioned, we are overthrowing the royalty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:47:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23624836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lognrithm/pseuds/lognrithm
Summary: Burner finally explains why he's so fervently invested in pyromania. Magic has a realization.
Relationships: Burner Man/Magic Man
Comments: 3
Kudos: 8





	light me up and burn me down

**Author's Note:**

> i am going to post my megaman rarepairs and you are going to Look at them, if you like

Every click of Magic’s metal heels echoed faintly through the halls of the castle, these gilded halls of the Robot King. He tapped his staff lightly against his fingers, humming a show tune to no beat but that of his own steps. As it were, it was about as peaceful as could be in these times. He had joined for excitement, however.. It rarely felt exciting. More depressing. 

From another room in the quarters, he heard the faintly familiar sobs of another robot. They were.. rare, given his personality, but still present more and more with each passing day. Stepping up, with only a moment of hesitation, he methodically tapped his knuckles against the door. Un, deux, trois. 

“Burner, dear?”

No response. 

“Burner.. Darling, I’m coming in. Is that all right?”

A cough. “Yeah. Yeah, that’s fine.” His voice was raspy like he had been inhaling too much smoke. Of course he had, his task was to burn. The thought of ‘why doesn’t he have a mask’ ran through his head, but the conclusion of ‘he likes the smell of smoke’ was quickly reached. Whether or not it was completely true was.. not entirely known, but it was as good an assumption as any other. 

Magic turned the knob, and found the other robot lying on the ground, staring up at the ceiling. He hardly turned his head, and just waved his flame-tipped fingers up, before resting them back on top of his chest. “Hey.”

“Darling..” He pulled over a chair and sat down, politely crossing one leg over the other. “Would you be all right with telling me what’s wrong? It hurts to see you like this-”

“Has King done anything to you?”

...done anything? He pursed his lips and placed his fingers to them, shocked, as though there were not a mask in the way of such an expression. There was nothing he could think of being done to him, no.. he had willingly joined. For the drama, the suspense, the call of robot revolution.. Something irresistible to a showman like him. “Not that I’m aware of, dear.”

“Figures.” Burner did not sound spiteful when he said that, and sat up, shaking his head. “I guess I just got unlucky. I mean, I get that I’m kind of an idiot, kind of reckless, but if he wanted me to stay on task, all he had to do was ask!”

“He.. didn’t ask you? Nor command you to do so?” 

“I mean, he did, but he.. W-well.” Pausing, he looked up, a look of fear passing over his features. “You know he built me, right?”

“Well, yes. He built three, hired three, and recruited two more from Doctor Wily.” Magic could not see where he was going with this. Burner tended to ramble on and on, as endearing as it was and as pleasant as he was when he spoke of what he was passionate about, but this made little sense yet. “So-”

“If he built me, why did he put a bomb inside of me?”

“..what?”

Burner clenched his hand into a fist, and the other one cradled his own head as though it were the most delicate treasure, at the same time grasping it tight enough to crush. “When I awoke, he told me there was a bomb inside me! That it- it’ll explode if I don’t keep burning down forests. I don’t know why it’s there, I like burning them, but…”

It was hard for Magic to pay attention- trust him, he tried- with the anger bubbling in his chest replacing most interest in the specific wording. That in itself was… deplorable. Despicable. What father would come to his son and tell him that he would die if he didn’t do as he was told? No true savior of robots, no martyr of the revolt. He was attacking those machines loyal to humanity, yes.. But attacking his own army in a psychological, and perhaps, a physical manner. 

He stood up from the chair, dropping the cape clasped neatly around his neck, and knelt down at his friend’s side, wrapping his arms around him deathly tight. “You don’t deserve to fear that way, Burner. Whether it’s true or not.”

“Of course it’s true, the.. the King decreed so..” His words found themselves quieting, and he hesitated only a moment before burying his face into Magic’s shoulder. It was uncomfortably warm for the other, he knew, but he.. Needed to calm down. Before his next mission, lest it go wrong, and he burned more than permitted. As relaxed as it would make him. As much as it would put his core at ease and stave the bomb off yet another day. 

“Our King,” he murmured, venom dripping from his mouth as the thought of such a liege, “has no reign over our bodies. I will make sure of it.”

“...I know, Magic..”

“I will not allow such a bomb to decide your fate. Would you stay here with me a while?”

“...holding you?” He paused, before his face cracked into a silly grin, as it usually did. “It’d be my pleasure.. ‘til I have to go.”

“Thank you, darling. Nothing will hurt you.” 


End file.
